Within the framework of its project “Increase of SME’s Productivity through the Application of Gender Policies in Decision-Making Positions”, aimed to sensitize Catalan companies about the economic and social benefits of promoting a larger number of women in decision-making positions in small and medium enterprises, AFAEMME has realized, in collaboration with the Federation of Employers of the Small and Medium Enterprises of Catalonia (FEPIME-CATALUNYA) and with support of the Catalan Occupation Service (Servei d’Ocupació de Catalunya), a detailed study on the present situation of women in the Catalan labour market.

The results of the study, which gathers data from a survey answered by 400 representatives of Catalan small and medium enterprises (SME) associations, have been captured in a report on the promotion of women in decision-making positions in SMEs of Catalonia. Main data collected by the study were that 75% of the Catalan companies do not agree that stereotypes are an obstacle in the promotion and participation of women in decision-making positions, that 48% of these 75% consider that the lack of conciliation measures of family and personal life is one of the reasons of the absence of women in this kind of positions, and that 78% of the Catalan companies is against the stereotype that dictated that men in decision-making positions have qualities that women lack.

The report is being successfully spread not only among Catalonia by the business organizations belonging to FEPIME-CATALUNYA but also at European level through the “European Commission’s Network of Women in Decision-Making in Politics and Economy”. With this huge dissemination, it can be confirmed that the project has been an important step to favour cultural changes as the improvement of equality of opportunities in the labour market and the sensitization of companies about the potential value of hiring more women.

The official presentation of the study has been done by Mª Helena de Felipe Lehtonen, President of AFAEMME, during AFAEMMEs last General Assembly held in Barcelona on November 5th.

For more details please click here